A Day in the life....

So....

What exactly does a Wizard do in his day to day life? Surely it's not all vanquishing dragons and summoning demons!  This Wizard, the person that I am is a visual being. I have always held a deep and abiding fascination for light in all it's myriad manifestations. Whilst it's not perhaps a strictly scientific view I subscribe to the general idea that everything is light in some way. A vibration, be it wave or particle or (more likely) something as yet still not understood, I like to think of light as energy in motion (something going somewhere)  and matter as energy that is essentially being still (energy going in very, very small circles).

Vision - the ability to perceive the visible parts of the spectrum as light and colour - is our facility for observing the interactions between energy in linear motion and energy in circular motion. Put more simply, light shines through, on, and off matter and our eyes 'see' it.

This photograph (taken last week in the meadow by the old railway line near our house) is an example. Sunlight shines through clouds and atmosphere and is absorbed and reflected by the matter that comprises the landscape.

Crepuscular rays (aka 'God-rays')

The combinations of the interactions of linear energy (light) and circular energy (matter) when observed through our perceptual filters is what creates magic - which is what Wizards (and Witches) do. A meteorologist observing this image might see cumulus clouds, a physicist might see crepuscular rays where an artist or visionary may see God-rays. An arborist may note the silhouetted eucalyptus trees. A photographer will note the use of the compositional Rule of Thirds and so on. Others folk will see other things dependant on their predispositions. A wizard (at least this Wizard) sees magic.

This process is utterly simple and simultaneously very difficult until one has acquired the skill of it.  Magic is everywhere for those with eyes to see it. Maybe this blog is about the perception or creation of magic? As the blogger I am quite interested to see what happens in the next post.....

~W~

Blowing off the Dust....

Hi There!

I thought it was well past time to blow the dust off the old blog and post some new content. I've had several attempts to add posts as this year has progressed but circumstances have left them unfinished and in various states of 'draft-ness'. Writing in a blog like this can be a somewhat daunting task - what should one write about? How much information should one include (or leave out)? How can one make it as interesting as possible and (the big question) is it worth the effort to write it if nobody is actually going to read it?

One of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People according to author Stephen Covey is to "Begin with the end in mind". Which begs the question - what is my intention here? What purpose does this blog fulfil and who is it actually for?

My intention is to share both my thoughts and my artistic output where anyone can see it. As a unique centre of awareness, a 'Thinker' and a Wizard I have my own suitably unique view on the world. Over the course of my life I have found many principles, affirmations, realisations and aphorisms which have been incredibly helpful and effective in allowing me to move through the course of life feeling pleased with who I am. I want to share some of these thoughts in the hope that they may be of use to others.

I have long held the desire to have a single place on the internet that could act as a repository for a sort of snapshot view into the world of one unknown Wizard. That is the purpose of this blog and as to the question of who it is for... I find myself wondering, does that really matter? I am a seven billionth of the total of humanity on this world yet I like to think the universe would be somehow incomplete were I not here. By putting my artwork, my visions and thoughts and conclusions out there into the World Wide Web it is perhaps merely my attempt to make a meaningful contribution to the world that has contributed so much to me. I am as insignificant as a grain of sand on a vast windswept beach. Perhaps by reflecting what colours and light I can, some passing awareness will perceive my sand grain as one of those brief sparkling motes that twinkle amidst the endless granules and contribute just a tiny touch of magic back to the world. If I must be a tiny speck at least let me strive to be a shiny one.

Will anyone read this? Is it worth the effort to write? Yes I will read it and it's worth the effort because someone else may read it and maybe the magic will spread. If I don't post it then most certainly nothing will happen. If I do, it might and that is ample reason enough for me

~W~

Someone else took this.

Someone else took this photo - I just played around with it in a little image editor I downloaded to my phone. I'm really just checking out how things like this work on my phone.

The original photo is a scene somewhere down south at one of the big lakes. Sorry I don't know who took it or even where I found it.

Storm Chasing

Hello, greetings and welcome.

We have just been treated to a few days of superb Autumnal weather here in Wai-iti.  We've been treated to sunny skies, warm, mild breezes and gorgeous evenings as the Moon grows steadily towards being full.

This evening we had a simply beautiful sunset, red clouds reflecting an amazing light across the landscape which is all burnt and dry at the moment. The grass in the paddocks is pale brown and looks dead and many of the deciduous trees have started changing colour. With very little rain recently  we are having something of a drought. The combination of the dry foliage and the reflected red sunset light created a beautiful and otherworldly effect.

This too shall pass as the saying goes. Tropical Cyclone Lusi is wending its way down the North West coast of the North Island bringing heavy rains and high winds. The rain   will pour down on the parched earth and miraculously the grass will green up and spring back to life. Perfect conditions for staying home in the dry.

So of course we'll be driving 400 Kms to Christchurch! Dear friends there are about to get their earthquake damage finally repaired and they have generously donated their old carpets to us for use in our no-budget renovation project.

Furthermore, my dear Dad has lent us his car (which, unlike ours, has a tow ball) and my always generous and helpful Brother-in-law has lent us his big tandem axle trailer. We are aiming to leave early on Saturday morning and driving down to Chch and collecting the carpet before turning around and heading the 400 Kms back home again, hopefully before the cyclone arrives!

Whew! Should be an exciting and excellent adventure! If the weather forecast is accurate (they have a 63% accuracy rate here) we should be able to just sneak back home before the serious weather gets here. All going well (which of course it will) we'll be back safe and sound and hopefully we'll get some good photos too.

Till the next time....

Afternoon In the City of Domes

The lowering afternoon sun shines on the Domes and towers of Inthandonia's famous City of Domes.


3d Models built using truespace rendered in trueSpace using LightWorks renderer. Extensive post work using the GIMP.
This is a picture I first created several years ago. I've recently revisited it and made a few changes and alterations. I hope you enjoy it.

Dragons and Wizards

Dragons and Wizards go together like shoes and socks or fish and chips or (insert complimentary couple of choice here). So here is a picture I made from an original image I found on the New Zealand Metserve website and some photos and images from my hard drive.

The suspicious looking character on the left is a picture of me taken ... oh 4 or 5 years back when I had long hair. The figure on the right is another photo of me taken a couple of years ago when I had short hair! The dragon is a 3d model I created using trueSpace as are the ship and castle in the distance, the flock of birds were added using a custom paintbrush as was the flash of lightning. It was all colour matched and composed in the GIMP as an exercise in combining 2d images. Hope you like it!

It's been a long time...

...since I wrote anything interesting here! Seems a shame to spoil such a good run...... ;-)

I've been partaking in a protracted and fascinating spiritual conversation with a friend of mine in the States. My friend is a Christian and I am most definitely not!


This makes our ongoing discussion a bit difficult as we are both approaching the topic from very different world views. My friend (who I will refer to as MM) is a good natured and caring person who is (I suspect) somewhat concerned about the long-term future of my soul given that I am not about to accept his world view over my own personal views.

 MM's perspectives are (I believe) based on interpretations of whatever Bible his preferred denomination uses. Thus, when confronted with a spiritual question he is able to consult his preferred version of the Bible as well as seek backup from his fellow followers.

This approach tends to generate a set of fairly specific and superficial answers that are shaped by dogma and the shared interpretation of the flock. The result is a single formulaic answer which will suit many specific situations but not all.

 On the other hand, I seek the answers to my spiritual questions anywhere I can find them. The result here is a selection of possible answers which I can pick and choose from depending on the needs of the moment.

 This means that I do not have a single central source for spiritual guidance. I  can't go to a shared common source of information and say "check out chapter so and so, verse such and such" and derive an answer from that singular source.  So I am contemplating using this blog space as a repository for my own personal thoughts and concepts that I can refer others to.

With a central location for my spiritual thoughts and understandings I will be better equipped to respond to the written dogmas of other belief systems by having a written source of my own.